A technical dictionary of printmaking, André Béguin.
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Burned wood technique
Engraving wood by burning is an extremely ancient technique and may date back to the first uses of fire. Nonetheless the use of fire in engraving was never widespread. Examples can be found in African and Western art as of the Middle Ages. Dürer may also have drawn with a red-hot poker. Branding animals with a hot iron and decorating wooden boxes by branding has been known for a long time and as a consequence it is surprising that there are practically no wood blocks engraved in this manner. The rarity of such work must be due to the difficulties involved in keeping a tip at a high and even temperature. In fact this problem was not solved until the invention of the pyroengraving machine by Manuel Périer in 1875. The pyroengraving machine was an adaptation of a yet earlier machine invented by Doctor Pacquelin and has since been improved in several ways.
The pyrostereotypic process, invented in 1862, was a process related to printmaking. It consisted in engraving music onto a block of wood by means of a burning machine whose tip replaced the hammer and punch system previously used to engrave music sheets. An alloy was then melted and poured into the holes made by the burning machine. When the alloy cooled down it had turned into a relief plate that could be used to print music sheets [* compression engraving). As early as 1856 cloth was printed with relief blocks made with wood that was worked with a Heilmann machine whose tip was heated by two gas flames. The engraving done by this machine is said to have been very precise. [* pokerwork].
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